How to Calculate the Price of Treasury Bills | The Motley Fool (2024)

Treasury bills are among the safest investments in the market. They're backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and they come in maturities ranging from four weeks to one year. When buying Treasury bills, you'll find that quotes are typically given in terms of their discount, so you'll need to calculate the actual price.

How to Calculate the Price of Treasury Bills | The Motley Fool (1)

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The calculation

Getting the price from the interest rate

To calculate the price, you need to know the number of days until maturity and the prevailing interest rate. Take the number of days until the Treasury bill matures and multiply it by the interest rate in percent. Take the result and divide it by 360, as the Treasury uses interest-rate assumptions using the common accounting standard of 360-day years.

Then, subtract the resulting number from 100. That will give you the price of a Treasury bill with a face value of $100. If you want to invest more, then you can adjust the figure accordingly.

As a simple example, say you want to buy a $1,000 Treasury bill with 180 days to maturity, yielding 1.5%. To calculate the price, take 180 days and multiply by 1.5 to get 270. Then, divide by 360 to get 0.75, and subtract 100 minus 0.75. The answer is 99.25. Because you're buying a $1,000 Treasury bill instead of one for $100, multiply 99.25 by 10 to get the final price of $992.50.

Keep in mind that the Treasury doesn't make separate interest payments on Treasury bills. Instead, the discounted price accounts for the interest that you'll earn. For instance, in the preceding example, you'll receive $1,000 at the end of the 180-day period. Because you only paid $992.50, the remaining $7.50 represents the interest on your investment over that time frame.

Treasury bill quotes can look complicated, but it's pretty easy to figure out the price. With just a few simple calculations, you can convert quotes to Treasury-bill prices, and know what you'll need to pay to invest.

To get more information on how to start investing -- in Treasury bills and other investment instruments -- head on over to our Broker Center.

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How to Calculate the Price of Treasury Bills | The Motley Fool (2024)

FAQs

How to Calculate the Price of Treasury Bills | The Motley Fool? ›

Getting the price from the interest rate

How to calculate treasury bill price? ›

Price = Face value (1 – (discount rate x time)/360)

What is the price of a Treasury bill with a face value of $100000 yield on a bank discount basis of 5.89% and 100 days to maturity? ›

For the 100-day Treasury bill with a face value (F) of $100,000, if the yield on a bank discount basis (Yd) is quoted as 5.89%, D is equal to: D = Yd (F) = 0.0589($100,000 = $1,636.11. Price = $100,000 – $1,636.11 = $98,363.89.

How much does a $10,000 treasury bill cost? ›

They are sold at a discount to face value, and the difference between the discounted price and face value is your return on investment. For example, if you buy a 12-week T-bill with a face value of $10,000 for $9,800, the difference of $200 is your return for holding the security for 12 weeks.

How much does Warren Buffett have in Treasury bills? ›

Berkshire is one of the largest T-bill investors in the world, holding $153 billion at the end of the first quarter, the bulk of its $182 billion in cash and equivalents.

How to read T-bill price? ›

Treasury bills, or bills, are typically issued at a discount from the par amount (also called face value). For example, if you buy a $1,000 bill at a price per $100 of $99.986111, then you would pay $999.86 ($1,000 x . 99986111 = $999.86111). * When the bill matures, you would be paid its face value, $1,000.

What is the T-bill rate today? ›

Basic Info

3 Month Treasury Bill Rate is at 5.25%, compared to 5.25% the previous market day and 5.10% last year.

Are Treasury bills better than CDs? ›

If you're saving for a goal less than a year away: If you're saving money for a goal with a short-time horizon, T-bills can make more sense than CDs. They provide a higher APY than savings accounts, and they're more liquid than CDs.

Is it better to buy Treasury bills at auction or on secondary market? ›

There are several ways to buy Treasuries. For many people, TreasuryDirect is a good option; however, retirement savers and investors who already have brokerage accounts are often better off buying bonds on the secondary market or with exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Do you pay capital gains on Treasury bills? ›

Are Treasury bills taxed as capital gains? Normally no. However, if you buy a T-bill in the secondary market and then achieve a profit, you may be liable for capital gains depending on your exact purchase price.

Why people don t invest in Treasury bill? ›

The biggest downside of investing in T-bills is that you're going to get a lower rate of return compared to other investments, such as certificates of deposit, money market funds, corporate bonds or stocks. If you're looking to make some serious gains in your portfolio, T-bills aren't going to cut it.

Is now a good time to buy T-bills? ›

Right now, the 3-month Treasury bill rate is 5.25% while the 30-year Treasury rate is 4.58%. So, if you're looking for a risk-free way to earn interest on your cash over a short period of time, investing in a T-bill could be a good choice.

How do you profit from Treasury bills? ›

They are considered safe investments because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. T-bills are sold at a discount from their face value and mature at face value. The difference between the purchase price and the maturity value is the interest earned by the investor.

How do you calculate treasury stock price? ›

So if 60,000 shares are outstanding but only 50,000 are issued, then the remaining 10,000 are treasury shares. From there, you can take the treasury stock line item and divide it by the calculated number of treasury shares. The result will be the average price the company paid for treasury stock.

What is the tbillprice formula in Excel? ›

=TBILLPRICE(settlement, maturity, discount)

The TBILLLPRICE function uses the following arguments: Settlement (required argument) – This is the settlement date of the T-bill. The security settlement date is the date after the issue date when the T-bill is traded to the buyer.

How do you read a Treasury bond price quote? ›

Unlike corporate bonds, which are quoted in eighths of a percent, government securities are split into units of 32nds. A price quote of 98-11 refers to a price of 98 11/32% of par value, or 98.34375% of par. If the Treasury bond had a par value of $1,000, then the bond would sell for $983.44.

How much will I make on a 4 week treasury bill? ›

4 Week Treasury Bill Rate is at 5.28%, compared to 5.28% the previous market day and 4.32% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 1.41%. The 4 Week Treasury Bill Rate is the yield received for investing in a US government issued treasury bill that has a maturity of 4 weeks.

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